Bombay HC dismisses Adani Port & SEZ’s plea against JNPA in bid disqualification case

The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone that had challenged the disqualification of its bid by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust for upgrading a container terminal in Navi Mumbai.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik termed the petition “unmeritorious” and imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on the company. It also refused the company’s request to maintain the status quo till it seeks relief from the Supreme Court.

An email sent by ET to the Adani Group seeking comment remained unanswered at press time Monday.

Adani Ports & SEZ was one of the companies that had shown interest under a global tender issued by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) for the operation and maintenance of a container terminal for a period of 30 years.

However, before the procedure for bidding began, JNPA’s board of trustees sent a notice to Adani Port & SEZ asking why it should not be disqualified from the tender, citing an Andhra Pradesh High Court order that had upheld the termination of the concession agreement by Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) with the company.

The Adani Group company, the country’s largest multi-location private port developer, responded to the notice and requested a “without prejudice” participation in the bid.

However, in a letter dated May 2, the board of trustees informed Adani Ports & SEZ that as VPT had issued a termination letter to it, the company had been disqualified from participating in this tender process.

The company challenged this disqualification at the high court in a case filed on May 5.

In this case, Adani Ports & SEZ was represented by senior advocates Ravi Kadam and Vikram Nankani along with the law firm Crawford Bayley & Co. JNPA and its board of trustees were represented by senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond and Saket Mone of Vidhii Partners.

Shares of the company closed nearly flat at Rs 687.25 on the BSE Monday.